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For two months, as Erika Johnson ached to bond with her newborn baby and her breast milk dried up, her daughter remained in the custody of Missouri's Department of Social Services.
As sad as this story is, without outside help, it is possible the baby could be in danger as an infant. I wouldn't want to begrudge a blind person for having a child.....but they need to plan ahead for assistance.
they must have outside help and the mothere herself realised something was wrong, which is why she called the nurse. i cant imagine that a blind coupe doesnt have someone to help them in their daily lives. i cant believe their child was taken away from them that is heartbreaking.
what if a sighted woman was breastfeeding and the baby was turning blue, would THAT baby have been taken away, or would someone have tried to figure out why it was happening and rectify the situation?
this is Mo we are talking about and they dont need a reason other than " we think theres a problem" .. tipical for that state .. lack of common sense is the norm there by cps ..
Quote:
But after a nurse noticed that Johnson was having trouble breastfeeding, and the baby had turned blue, she wrote on the chart:
"The child is without proper custody, support, or care due to both of (the) parents being blind, and they do not have specialized training to assist them."
Instead of services being made available, such as specialized training, the Missouri Department of Social Services removed the baby from the parents' custody.
From the moment of baby Mikaela's birth, social workers were present and asking Johnson questions such as how would they take the baby's temperature, and how would they get the baby to the doctor. Even as Johnson satisfactorily answered these questions, it was not enough.
There are certainly many challenges to parenting blind, but having navigated the world themselves as blind citizens, both Johnson and Sinnett know how to call a cab and 911 or locate household items that are for use in a blind home, such as a talking thermometer. They aren't the first blind parents, and will not be the last, as was shown by the support the couple received from blind organizations as well as sighted children of the blind. As Johnson said:
"I needed help as a new parent, but not as a blind parent."
How horrifying that their new baby was ripped out of their arms for 57 days when the state decided they were not capable of raising a child. When the first step is to remove a baby rather than direct parents to helpful programs, organizations, or tools, something is deeply wrong with the system.
Shame on Mo .. the lack of common sense there is terrifing
its the same in several places .. have a watch and let your heart break
I'm blind and am a parent. I can't see colors, shapes, light, faces, or anything. I see NOTHING. I am a capable parent and a productive citizen.
It's wrong for them to take away that baby simply because the Mother is blind. Lots of new Mothers aren't sure how to breast feed. That's not a crime. Obviously, the Mother was competent enough to notice something wasn't right, which is why she notified the Nurse.
This is simply a case of knee-jerk reaction to a disabled person being a parent, and a situation that was badly mishandled by the hospital and child protective services.
However, I can't say I'm surprised.
Most people I've met (including some people in this forum) seem to think that blind people are stupid and not capable of anything. Being blind in a sighted world, you are forced to prove yourself in ways that many sighted people will never have to. Sad, but it's the way things are -- wrong as that may be.
I'm blind and am a parent. I can't see colors, shapes, light, faces, or anything. I see NOTHING. I am a capable parent and a productive citizen.
It's wrong for them to take away that baby simply because the Mother is blind. Lots of new Mothers aren't sure how to breast feed. That's not a crime. Obviously, the Mother was competent enough to notice something wasn't right, which is why she notified the Nurse.
This is simply a case of knee-jerk reaction to a disabled person being a parent, and a situation that was badly mishandled by the hospital and child protective services.
However, I can't say I'm surprised.
Most people I've met (including some people in this forum) seem to think that blind people are stupid and not capable of anything. Being blind in a sighted world, you are forced to prove yourself in ways that many sighted people will never have to. Sad, but it's the way things are -- wrong as that may be.
I'm glad you answered Geek since I know you are blind and post in this forum. In my mind, I was really questioning if a totally blind person could care for a new born infant without outside assistance. I guess as a person who would totally rely on site, I forget blind people have honed their other senses. So, please don't feel offended. I just really couldn't imagine how this would work. I'll have to think about it longer.
I'm glad you answered Geek since I know you are blind and post in this forum. In my mind, I was really questioning if a totally blind person could care for a new born infant without outside assistance. I guess as a person who would totally rely on site, I forget blind people have honed their other senses. So, please don't feel offended. I just really couldn't imagine how this would work. I'll have to think about it longer.
Thing is, blind people can do anything a sighted person can (with the exception of driving and flying planes of course).
I have a cousin that's blind. He was born that way. They replaced his eyes with glass ones when he was a child. He's now a grown man in his mid 40s and he works in a busy hospital developing X-Rays.
Google has a web accessible search that was designed for people with disabilities (e.g., motor skill / blindness) and it was coded and completely developed by a blind programmer.
I'm also a programmer.
A blind person can go to a neighborhood they've never been in before, yet they could tell you exactly where every fire hydrant or telephone pole is located on the entire block. Know how? Because their hearing is much more honed as it has taken place of eye sight.
When you're approaching a fire hydrant, the sidewalk makes a different sound -- it sounds hollow because of the water pipes under the sidewalk that are used by the hydrant.
When you're near a telephone pole, you can hear the electricity running though the wires.
Blind parents often teach their kids things that help the parent. For example, my blind cousin that works at the hospital, has 8 kids. With each child they put bells on their shoe laces (so you can hear the kids). With the girls, it was bells on their hairbows.
The direction of sound from the bells (foot / head) allows you to know if it's your son or daughter moving about if they're not saying anything.
He taught his kids to say "Ah-Ohhh!" whenever they got into something they knew they weren't supposed to. The kids knew from the start they were not to try and hide from Daddy, because they'd be in even more trouble.
Also, he can tell when his kids are lying just by the tone of their voice.
Being blind doesn't make you any less capable of being a parent than it does someone who's sighted.
There is a tremendous amount of prejudice against the blind, deaf, disabled and elderly. I think this story is a good example of it.
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that is heartbreaking.
